Baby chick suddenly crashing (need help)

[clickchicks]

What's the youngest a chick can start showing signs of Mareks?

 

[gtaus]

Maybe the brooder plate did get too hot. No panting, but the wings stretched out flat maybe was a clue. I've seen my adult hens stretch their wings out beside them on hot days.

Just wondering if you ever tested the temp under the brooder plate?

I have always used heat lamps with a thermometer to check the temps for my chicks. But you can also get a feel for how well the chicks are doing just by looking at them. I don't think a person can get a good look at chicks under the brooder plate compared to just under a heat lamp. If the chick had its wings spread out, I would think that it was too hot.

But, chicks do funny things and sleep a lot, sometimes in funny positions. More than once I thought I had a dead chick, but turns out it was just dead tired. Those first few days are always the most critical. I always feel better when I get them through the first week or two.

 

[clickchicks]

Just wondering if you ever tested the temp under the brooder plate?

I have always used heat lamps with a thermometer to check the temps for my chicks. But you can also get a feel for how well the chicks are doing just by looking at them. I don't think a person can get a good look at chicks under the brooder plate compared to just under a heat lamp. If the chick had its wings spread out, I would think that it was too hot.

But, chicks do funny things and sleep a lot, sometimes in funny positions. More than once I thought I had a dead chick, but turns out it was just dead tired. Those first few days are always the most critical. I always feel better when I get them through the first week or two.

I just took a digital probe to it, plate temp (directly on the heating part) was at 98 degrees F. The Ambient on the floor below was around 83 F.

 

[clickchicks]

I'm so exhausted and I just don't understand what's going on. They keep ping ponging... one moment they literally look like they are on death's door, then the next they seem a little weak but ok.

Here's one from about an hour ago:

And here's one I just took:

I'm throwing everything I can at them... my sweet SO drove an hour to the closest TSC (only thing still open at this hour) to get them some Nutri-Drench (I put a couple of drops directly in their mouths) and a bag of regular Purina starter/grower feed. I've raised the brooder plate slightly again so that they for sure can't come into full contact with it even at its lowest. I still have the vitamin/electrolyte/probiotic in their water. I've done everything I can think to do.

 

[clickchicks]

I'm sorry I keep posting one after another but I've been sitting here racking my brain on this.

And it occurs to me that I did give them the 3 day dose of Corid... could this be a thiamine deficiency?

http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/thiamine-deficiency

This article lists ataxia and "Inability to stand or sit upright" as symptoms in young chicks... it also says "Fish-meal based feed, supplements, or table scraps" create an increased need for thiamine in the diet... the original chick food I was feeding is fish based.

Could that be it?? Oh gosh I feel terrible... both the rooster booster and the nutri-drench contain thiamine, is that enough?

 

[gtaus]

I'm so exhausted and I just don't understand what's going on. They keep ping ponging... one moment they literally look like they are on death's door, then the next they seem a little weak but ok.

I watched your video, and, frankly, I cannot see anything abnormal with your chicks. They appear to be acting much the same way any of the chicks I have raised. It is not uncommon for a chick to be running around crazy like and then a few minutes later flat out sleeping on the bedding. I always thought that is what chicks do.

If you are concerned about the chicks falling down to their bellies and spreading out their wings, well, I see that as natural behavior. If the chicks were young hens of breeding age, I think we would call that squatting. It appears to me that the chicks only "squat" when approached by another chick in your videos. From what I understand, the squatting movement is to protect the hen from getting a broken leg(s) when the rooster mounts her. The wings spread out to help keep balance. I see your chicks doing the same thing when approached by another chick.

My full grown hens will display that squatting behavior if I am feeding them in the run and I get too close to them and startle them. They will squat down with wings spread out for a moment or two, then when they realize I am not a rooster trying to mount them, they jump back up and run away.

Of course, you are there with the chicks and I feel your anxiety for their well being. I just can't see what you are so concerned about from the videos you posted. From what I have read in this thread, you are doing everything you can. But I do understand your concerns, because I always stress out over the first weeks of chicks in the brooder. Hope things get better for you and your chicks.

 

[clickchicks]

The chick in the first of those two videos had been like that for hours. If I tried to pick it up it would collapse immediately just as it did when it tried to get up on its own, regardless if there was another chick near it. It was literally too weak to stand, even with coaxing.

 

[Myrshine]

You got them from Ideal Poultry hatchery right? I had gotten a bunch of chicks from them as well and I lost over 40 of them. I’m not new to raising chicks, so this was really heartbreaking to me, just ate and drank and seemed healthy.. but then.. just died. I’m not sure if I’ll order from there again because my experience has been awful with the chicks

 

[clickchicks]

You got them from Ideal Poultry hatchery right? I had gotten a bunch of chicks from them as well and I lost over 40 of them. I’m not new to raising chicks, so this was really heartbreaking to me, just ate and drank and seemed healthy.. but then.. just died. I’m not sure if I’ll order from there again because my experience has been awful with the chicks

Technically from the local feed store but yes, they get them from Ideal.

Very disheartening to hear, and I’m so sorry for your loss

 

[gtaus]

You got them from Ideal Poultry hatchery right? I had gotten a bunch of chicks from them as well and I lost over 40 of them. I’m not new to raising chicks, so this was really heartbreaking to me, just ate and drank and seemed healthy.. but then.. just died. I’m not sure if I’ll order from there again because my experience has been awful with the chicks

Nobody makes money off chicks that die. Sometimes it does not matter how well you care for your chicks. I know a 4H poultry judge with over 40 years of experience raising birds. He told me that sometimes chicks just find a way to die and all your years of experience can't save them.

@clickchicks, I hope you can save your chick(s). It sure sounds like you are doing everything in your power to carry them over the line. Best wishes.